Jose Gomes On A ‘Fantastic Three Points’ Against Brentford

Another weekend at the Madejski, and another vital win in our bid against relegation. A 2-1 victory against Brentford puts us 19th, four points ahead of Rotherham United in 22nd. Yakou Meite scored a brace after the Royals started strongly, although Brentford pulled one back just before half time to make it an extremely anxious second half.

With now just four games to go, it’s definitely going to be an exciting, yet stressful, end to the season. Jose Gomes was a happy man after the game, but felt the match should have been over before half time with missed chances. Here is what he said to the official club website and Football.London.

Gomes on the victory

“I am happy for the three points. Although I am not happy for the way that we had to suffer in the final minutes, but this is the Championship and this can happen. We could have scored again to resolve the game early in the first half – we could have finished with three or four at half-time because we had good situations.

”In the end, when we needed to keep the result and close the way to the goal. And my players defended very well. But I am happy for the brave way that my players fought again, and the brave way that they kept the three points in our pocket.”

“It was a very important three points towards our target. But we have only a few hours before we start working again for the next game.”

Gomes on the relegation fight

”We cannot relax. We are in the final stages of a big war. We have four battles more and we must keep our focus for those battles.In this moment, we must collect all our energy and strength and use it in the next game.

“We have nothing more than the next game. Our players will think like that. We will prepare this week for our game on Friday in order to be ready to fight for the points.

“So today was a fantastic three points which will be important for the four battles we have in front of us.”

Gomes on if he was confident we would hold on

“We didn’t defend so well in the first half, the players thought it might be an easy game. But in the Championship, we don’t have this.

“We were more organised in the second half, even though they put the ball in our box with set-pieces. I was confident they could stop this kind of actions. In the aerial challenges we were stronger than them.”

Gomes on Yakou Meite’s form

“It’s good for him and it’s good for us but we can’t forget, nobody wins anything alone. So if he is scoring, it means the team is producing and giving him the chances to score. This is the point. It’s teamwork.

“He’s touching at the end with the best action for the goals.”

Gomes on the fans

“They are building a really strong bond and I am really proud to be Reading manager and to feel the support of our fans.

“They have been really amazing. And this good atmosphere has been important for us in the moment we’ve needed it and we’ve been in trouble at the bottom of the table. The support is like an extra player for us.”

Gomes on Saeid Ezatolahi

“He was injured and has only worked with me in the past two or three days. I gave him the chance to play 45 minutes last night for the U23s - maybe we’ll need him before the end of the season. I don’t know.

“The idea was to give him minutes in case we needed him. If he’s ready he can be used.”

Gomes on Sky pundits writing Reading’s chances off

“I don’t have time to read newspapers. I don’t have Facebook or Twitter but some information comes to me. I received a message with these six opinions and only one ‘supported’ Reading.

”If you give a national opinion - and Sky is something everybody follows and watches - for a national channel, it doesn’t matter if it’s on the radio, or on TV or in a newspaper, you must prepare yourself to give an opinion.

“And I think they didn’t prepare very well. At the end of the season we can talk again. But since I arrived, if you count the points of all the teams we are in the middle of the table - maybe nine or 10 points from the play-off positions.

”I don’t think they prepared very well before giving their opinions.”

What do you make of Jose Gomes’ post-match assessment? Leave us a comment below, or tell us on Twitter or Facebook.